Disqus - Latest Comments for Mike Butcher

Re: What we can learn from Blognation

Mike Butcher — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:23:56 -0000

Great post Dennis. Reputation is everything. Am reminded of The Crucible.

Re: We the media

Mike Butcher — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:40:41 -0000

Thanks for the links to our story on the Guardian's profits!

Re: Conferences

Mike Butcher — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:23:13 -0000

It's a shame you have closed the TedGlobal conference to Techcrunch Europe, Chris. Especially as we went to the first ever TedGlobal a few years ago. We applied for a press pass but were told it was now closed. I hope that's nothing to do with Michael Arringotn's famous rift with you guys.

Re: Conferences

Mike Butcher — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:26:07 -0000

FYI the TechCrunch Europe crowd is quite different! ;-)

Re: Should Michael Arrington Be Invited Back At LeWeb Next Year?

Mike Butcher — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:49:23 -0000

@nicolesimon You did not "have a hard time getting Mike Butcher to cover Europe." I went to 12 European cities this year. And TechCrunch UK doesn't even *officially* cover Europe - I made that decision to improve my European knowledge. Sorry, you are just wrong.

Re: The Facebook Debate: Notes and Thoughts

Mike Butcher — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:03:54 -0000

Adam - thanks for the absolute best write-up of the event I have seen. (I had to leave very early so didn't feel confident about writing on it). I think Chad's view that the more utility users get out of it the less susceptible they are to advertising is the best analysis I've heard so far and could make anyone paying $1bn for Facebook look very, very silly. I didn't expect to hear that from a guy from AOL!

As for Hugh remark about Trolls...

I think what he was talking about was that on Facebook people tend to be pretty polite as there is a social sanction on being nasty (you get de-friended). On the comments of a blog like TechCrunch, people can 'hit and run' and there is no comeback if they are nasty. He referred to this in his recent Twitter http://twitter.com/gapingvoid/statuses/337667752

Re: Not a Hardcore Blogger

Mike Butcher — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:43:40 -0000

I'm flattered Sir, but it's nothing us Superhuman, hard-core bloggers wouldn't normally do. Actually, I'm reminded of the time I posted to the blog just after spontaneously combusting... (or was that when I was drumming in Spinal Tap?)

But on a more serious note - the blog to which you refer is also, technically speaking, a publication which has to come out every day, cold or no cold, which meant that I often posted at odd hours, bluntly, when I felt better. There's something here in terms of how journalists may have to start working - fitting in writing at times that are not deemed 'normal', just because it's a way of keeping a title ticking over. That's when you take most advantage of the flexibility of online publishing and virtual working. Or something...

Anyway, here's one for all the other guys out there with Man Colds. I'm with you, in spirit:

http://tinyurl.com/2cckt6

Re: 4 Things Journalists Can Learn from the Lacy/Zuckerberg Interview

Mike Butcher — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:55:16 -0000

Great post Adam. I don't believe anyone else has pointed out that she doesn't even have a blog!

Re: Digital Journalism: The Time For Talk Is Done

Mike Butcher — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:59:15 -0000

No sh$t Sherlock. Six months? I think you have less time. I have no office, a mobile (iPhone), a laptop, a 3G dongle and a bicycle and about 10,000 daily readers on a blog. And I break stories. And I did NCTJ, local papers, magazines etc. you name it. The edifice of expensive journalism is over. It's too late.

Re: My thoughts on twitter etiquette.

Mike Butcher — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:48:05 -0000

Great list but I would advise always re-tweet the original @name - gives kudos to the person who started the meme.

Re: Britain's best and brightest startups hit Silicon Valley next week for funding

Mike Butcher — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:13:57 -0000

Apparently TechCrunch UK had something to do with it....

Re: Twitter kills SMS service in some countries over costs. Will someone kill SMS already?

Mike Butcher — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:52:55 -0000

If "the future of Twitter is mobile" why kill of the most wide-spread mobile service there is on the planet? Duh.

Re: Seedcamp, ‘08: In a pack of copycats, two start-ups shine

Mike Butcher — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:57:11 -0000

This is a well-written post which works in parts but suffers from the usual blogger blind-spot of not actually being at the event you're writing about...

Re: Oops! Twitter Reveals My New Job

Mike Butcher — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:58:44 -0000

Congrats!

Re: Mike’s doing a wicked job with TechCrunk UK

Mike Butcher — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:41:16 -0000

Thanks Ewan your shout out means a lot.

Re: Vegas or Bust!

Mike Butcher — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:38:46 -0000

Someone going to some trade show to pimp a site does not a news story make. I gather that sort of thing happens all the time. This post is really going to get me to write about it all. Oh yes.

Re: James Whatley said to have quit SpinVox

Mike Butcher — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:46:57 -0000

This is actually a totally unconfirmed story and - in fact - a publishing accident. We've withdrawn the story and apologised to James: http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/08/03/an-apology-...

Re: Leave Wall Street, Join A Startup

Mike Butcher — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:22:37 -0000

There's also http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/09/18/leave-canar...

Re: Facebook’s Killer Feature Coming Soon

Mike Butcher — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:15:50 -0000

Nice try Nick but I think you're wrong. Yes, it would be handy to gradate contacts on Facebook. But Facebook's business model is all about locking you in. LinkedIn's model is about functional business networking. To that end I can download a big VCF file of all my contacts on LI. But I can do nothing like this on FB, and if they allowed it, it would mean I could up sticks and leave with my network intact. Hence they will never do it and hence why LI is in no way over. Yet.

Re: Data, AI, Web, Repeat.

Mike Butcher — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:03:36 -0000

How do I contact you? And are you on Twitter?

Re: David Miliband

Mike Butcher — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:36:08 -0000

watching newsnight?

Re: Uk Techcrunch Networking Afternoon

Mike Butcher — Sat, 10 May 2008 07:38:49 -0000

Thanks for swelling the throng with your personality and drive. I love it when a plan comes together... ;-)

Re: 和TechCrunch英国主编闲聊英国互联网

Mike Butcher — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:08:03 -0000

Thanks for the interview! You can find me on Twitter at @mikebutcher

Re: Web 2.0: Pitch Camp x.0 Impressions

Mike Butcher — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:35:56 -0000

Great ost - yes, I see this all the time across Europe. So few people know how to pitch. It will take a while.....

Re: Why TechLudd should stop before it starts - Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

Mike Butcher — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:50:11 -0000

This is all very interesting...

Re: San Francisco here I come - Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

Mike Butcher — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:36:31 -0000

See you there.

Re: Europe needs more early-stage investors - Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

Mike Butcher — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:29:31 -0000

Indeed, thanks for the mention - link to the original post is above.

Re: Twitter lunch

Mike Butcher — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:59:37 -0000

Leave a comment on this post when you have an idea of details. May be able to make it.

Re: Internet TV - it’s the end of the world as we know it

Mike Butcher — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 03:31:52 -0000

Video search: Blinkx.com? Doovle.com?

Re: Techcrunch UK party and the London Web2.0 scene

Mike Butcher — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 03:39:14 -0000

It wasn't contrived, it was highly professional and rehearsed ;-)

Re: Identity - should be more about greed than fear

Mike Butcher — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:43:54 -0000

Interesting thoughts. So then why on earth isn't someone doing an identity startup around greed!? I here greed is good - or maybe that was just in the 80s. And was there really 200 people there?

Re: VC value add

Mike Butcher — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:50:36 -0000

I think it's a good point that the best VCs 'network' their companies. What astounds me is the way in which many VCs are incredibly cagey about the companies they have invested in. Usually they wait for the PR firms to mop up afterwards, not realising that tech firms are already being talked about online. Why hang around? (Equity Kicker excepted of course). I even wonder why they bother being secretive about some companies they are just interested in - by opening up more they might get more useful insight - and I might get more useful information for TechCrunch!

Re: iPhone takes a big step forward

Mike Butcher — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:47:56 -0000

You'll be able to get free iPhone apps from the iTunes store and Apple will not charge developer for making those available, so yes, they have allowed innovation to flourish. The drawback is that the store will be a bottleneck and there is no Long Tail crowd intelligence in the iTunes store to bubble up the best apps.

Re: Venture investment in Europe holds up

Mike Butcher — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:02:06 -0000

Good points (Nic and Phil) - we need some lists.....

Re: Woes building for banner ads

Mike Butcher — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:07:35 -0000

Yeah, but try tracking response to a print ad...

Re: UK online ad spend jumps 21% despite downturn

Mike Butcher — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 06:50:34 -0000

Traditionally ad budgets are cut after Christmas in a downturn. The test will be from next January.

Re: Great corporate culture story

Mike Butcher — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:26:09 -0000

Which is exactly why employees should be stopped from using Facebook and Twitter on Company Time!

Re: The Forbes Intern is not wrong about twitter in Europe

Mike Butcher — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:29:39 -0000

Cute but you didn't address the point in the post about SMS. Twitter is now 3 years old. Go ask a US company if they were using SMS for customer service 3 years ago. I bet a lot of them weren't because SMS was slow to take of in the US. Now many use Twitter for cust. serv. So they are a little ahead of EU firms? Who used SMS first? The Europeans did. Answer that one.

Re: 2007/07/17/blogging-pays-but-not-by-the-hour/

Mike Butcher — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 05:54:57 -0000

Come on Pete, you know you don't make money via blogging 'directly', but by indirectly promo-ing your social media consultancy business where you are able to chart fat consultancy fees. Go on, deny it.

Re: An Open Letter to Milo Yiannopoulos

Mike Butcher — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:47:38 -0000

You know what, you're exactly right. We shouldn't have asked people to delete Tweets and Twitpics, but whether you believe it or not, I'll go to my grave knowing that I actually wanted to try and limit the damage to James' position. Unfortunately - if you read our post - the post in question was deleted after publication leaving us unable to amend what had gone out on the feed. The apology came from me as editor, because I carry the can for what appears on TC Europe. I'd like to re-iterate what you just said: "Remember about when Bloomberg published that Steve Jobs obituary? We had a chuckle, they retracted it, we said silly Bloomberg and then we moved on." Wise words.

Re: An Open Letter to Milo Yiannopoulos

Mike Butcher — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:16:03 -0000

Danny - I'm sorry you dislike our reporting. I'm actually a lot more open to this debate than you might think. TechCrunch Europe is run pretty much as it's own entity in Europe. I'd also like to assure you that this was not a "lacksidasical" error we take lightly - that's why I published our apology. I think that if we were quite as arrogant as you make out then we wouldn't have bothered, no? I don't know what startup you're with but we do our best to cover the market. There are in fact plenty of other outlets these days, compared to two years ago when we launched. But feel free to get in touch.

Re: An Open Letter to Milo Yiannopoulos

Mike Butcher — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:07:42 -0000

Duncan - It actually looks like - we're just checking this, but this is the most likely candidate - that the publication occurred as a result of it being saved as draft via the WordPress for BlackBerry app. Either a pre-set on the app we weren't aware of, or a bug, set the post to publish last night. Like I said we're still checking, but we're pretty sure this is going to turn out to be the source of why this post went live without us realising until it was too late. So, cock-up, not conspiracy. Yes, I know some will now argue that this is just "convenient" but as I've said all along, this was not an intentional publication, and we're simply trying to make amends.

Re: danieltenner.com — Why you should go to Geeknrolla

Mike Butcher — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:20:05 -0000

I am already on the case - William will be speaking again.. watch this space....

Re: James Whatley, TCUK and Wordpress’s Scheduled Posts

Mike Butcher — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:59:07 -0000

Great post Mark. I fact we now know that the post was scheduled to publish automatically - un-be-knownst to us - because it had been drafted on a Blackberry using the WordPress plug-in. Take note everyone...

Re: One VC in Italy?

Mike Butcher — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:46:51 -0000

SFYI Stefano Bernandi is a temporary contributor for the Summer before we announce our regular contributors.

Re: Exclusive: James Whatley announces he [CONFIRMATION OR DENIAL] a co-founder of The Really Mobile Project

Mike Butcher — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:07:14 -0000

Glad to hear it.

Re: Exclusive: James Whatley announces he [CONFIRMATION OR DENIAL] a co-founder of The Really Mobile Project

Mike Butcher — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:25:42 -0000

We're hoping it ends up just being one a hall with one in it ;-). But seriously, pass on our best wishes. We're off to squash a few bugs...

Re: The things you learn by reading feeds

Mike Butcher — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 18:31:57 -0000

Just for the record: As co-editor of TechCrunch UK I resigned over this incident and put my take on events here: http://mbites.com/an-open-letter-to-mike-arrington

Re: Pissing off the blogosphere…

Mike Butcher — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:55:29 -0000

Maybe it's the fact (as Marc Canter points out) that it's hard to link to the part of a video you want to link to, but it's easy to link to the relevant text on a normal blog. We need deep links inside video for this to work better. I would say therefore, that it's really the *form* of the content (video) that is not being linked to that's one important issue here, not the content itself.

Re: The latest “shiny social object”: an open/controllable social network?

Mike Butcher — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:56:30 -0000

I guess in history too, the most powerful networks have ended up being been closed ones, like the Masons... I think what you are hinting at here is that Plaxo is basically the kind of software an accountant would like, whereas Facebook is - even at its most innocent - essentially flirting by other means. That makes it a lot of sexy, by definition. That's partly why it has the momentum it has right now. However, should Facebook have any more major outages, I think lots of people will start making sure they have some back-up plan for when it goes down/gets hacked etc etc

Re: Blog business opportunity: overseas blog networks

Mike Butcher — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:27:00 -0000

FYI Rob, TechCrunch has a UK site too (I run it). Both TechCrunch UK and Blognation have both been appearing on Techmeme for weeks now - you must have just missed us. I should think Techmem's issue is just about breaking stories, which TCUK is doing. Want video too? That's easy. Actually I emailed you months ago about doing stuff on Podtech, remember? Good luck discovering the rest of the planet.

Re: Will Fav.or.it get me off of Google Reader?

Mike Butcher — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:23:45 -0000

There's more on this on http://uk.techcrunch.com/2007/12/07/favorit-wor...

Re: Will Fav.or.it get me off of Google Reader?

Mike Butcher — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:24:27 -0000

Oh, and nice to meet you at the London Geek Dinner.

Re: Unintended advantages

Mike Butcher — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 10:11:19 -0000

Good luck with getting your data back Robert, (and btw thanks for the video interview with me in London on Podtech). Meanwhile, here's what I think you'd look like as a revolutionary:
http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/01/03/facebook-bl...

Re: ScobleShow.com countdown begins

Mike Butcher — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:43:00 -0000

Thanks for the opportunity to be interviewed Robert. It's the end of an era, I wish you well.

Re: Israel: a country too far from Mike Arrington’s house

Mike Butcher — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:36:05 -0000

Robert, now I think you are being a bit cheeky. I might even go so far as to call Linkbait. The fact is that Mike Arrington has made a huge commitment to European startups, and between me (UK, Ireland, Europe) and Ouriel (France, Israel and other European startups) TechCrunch is well on its way to covering companies far away from Mike Arrington's house. For instance, did you see our recent overage of Zemanta in Slovenia? Or PutPlace in Ireland? Or Twingly in Scandinavia? Or eBuddy in the Netherlands? Or Tripsay? To name just a few. I don't doubt Tel Aviv is rocking - that's what I hear too and I daresay Ouriel is on it. Let's see if you're still covering all these areas as enthusiastically in 5 years time when you're back in Menlo Park, etc and we're still here, doing it.

Re: Seagate’s future now that colorful Bill Watkins is out of CEO job

Mike Butcher — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:24:32 -0000

I'd agree that the real key to the hard drive future is mass storage of multi-media. In particular it's in the home, next to the TV where you want to stream family photos and videos. Just making drives for the "PC" market is not enough.

Re: TechCrunch UK & Ireland

Mike Butcher — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:54:26 -0000

Exactly how dumb would it be not to do this? No need to reply :-)

Re: Automatic Brand Creation

Mike Butcher — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 10:54:25 -0000

I'd be interested in being put in contact with those guys to get the brand story. C'est possible?

Re: Some opinions are more equal than others

Mike Butcher — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 08:01:10 -0000

Point of order - to all. We were not being 'line-managed' by anyone. This was a franchise operation, making the editorial interference even more serious.

Re: AllFreeCalls get techcrunched

Mike Butcher — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 05:28:55 -0000

And on Vecosys btw...

Re: CrunchBase and Web2Ireland

Mike Butcher — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:14:22 -0000

Fantastic, great move guys! This is really going to help propagate knowledge about Irish startups.

Re: Startups: Get on the Euro Tech Showcase today

Mike Butcher — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:17:12 -0000

I don't understand the rabid pimping of this event which in all honestly doesn't look that good IMHO. I agree with Rodolfo - it's better to blend in.

Re: Yahoo UK Closes Mobile Division; Focus On Yahoo Go Mobile And Search

Mike Butcher — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 09:54:48 -0000

Thanks for the link Rafat. I guess it makes sense to pull out of SMS now that so many cell networks willl start to push flat rate data access - the way in the Web giants like Yahoo needed. Tough news for the developers though.

Re: 3UK Ups Price Of Music

Mike Butcher — Sat, 05 May 2007 00:12:30 -0000

The answer surely is that the service is getting popular enough for Three to be able to afford to raise the price - that and people are getting an appettite for buying direct from the mobile. Three's music videos have also done quite well.

Re: English Premier League, Bourne Try Class Action Suit Against YouTube, Google

Mike Butcher — Sat, 05 May 2007 00:06:39 -0000

Could it be that the League was put up to the case by Sky, which pays handsomely for the rights to the game? Sky is owned by News Corp, which owns MySpace - these days somehting of an enemy of the Google/YouTube camp...

Re: @ MidemNet: The New Economics Of Music And Lots Of Concerts

Mike Butcher — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:34:55 -0000

Robert, I am extremely jealous. Look forward to your coverage!

Re: New News Site: The Newsier Newser

Mike Butcher — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:09:28 -0000

Newser looks nice but it is like shoe-horning a portal play onto a web which is increasingly focused on niche and application/function, not on telling me which story is "big" right now. The point is, I already know that. I don't see this working...

Re: Launching: Our Regular Snapshot Reports; First One: Social Media Deals Report

Mike Butcher — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:17:36 -0000

Strategy Eye is very clever. It basically sucks the content out of the hard work of bloggers who do the grunt work and then sells it back to corporate clients at a premium. Smart move Paid Content. Somewhat ironic as well.

Re: Our New Site, Coming Soon: paidContentUK

Mike Butcher — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:25:30 -0000

Congrats Rob / Ingrid / Rafat - I look forward to PCUK's success.

Re: FT.com Ringfences Free Stories For Link Followers, Aiming To Drive Subs

Mike Butcher — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:21:45 -0000

So this implies that the strategy is just to keep their pecker up in terms of impressions, but won't actually lead to that many new subs...

Re: Shiny Shuts Football Blog; More Changes To Come?

Mike Butcher — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:05:24 -0000

FYI Ashley Norris' original post about Shiny is here:

http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/08/13/taking-the-...

Re: Google 'Could Bid' For UK Mobile Spectrum, Says 'Highly Speculative' Report

Mike Butcher — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:09:17 -0000

Google could well lease then rebadge network capacity from rival operators as an MVNO - but then it would have to buy back this - normally expensive - information about the user's location which it will require to send targeted advertising, a la Mobile AdSense. The only other option is to use the GPS which wil be inside most handsets in a year or so, assuming this is a viable option.

Re: Ad-Funded MVNO Blyk Replaces UK CEO With Co-founder Antti Öhrling

Mike Butcher — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:58:05 -0000

Is that picture of Gregory or Öhrling?

Re: AOL, Time Warner, Bebo Line Up To Deny A Sale Is In The Offing

Mike Butcher — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:50:51 -0000

We've corrected the October reference to Social Inbox to December. It doesn't take away from the fact that it's taken an entire year for this integration to take place and agencies are only now getting properly pitched about how to buy the media on the InBox.

Re: AOL, Time Warner, Bebo Deny A Sale Is In The Offing

Mike Butcher — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:11:51 -0000

We’ve corrected the October reference to Social Inbox to December. It doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s taken an entire year for this integration to take place and agencies are only now getting properly pitched about how to buy the media on the InBox.

Re: SpinVox Takes Â£30 Million Loan, Leaked Accounts Claim Losses Growing

Mike Butcher — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:20:06 -0000

And here's that link in case people are wondering.

http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/08/24/spinvoxs-su...

Re: Startups Specle, BraveNewTalent.com Get New Financing

Mike Butcher — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:59:37 -0000

Thanks for the link. FYI TechCrunch UK recently relaunched as Techcrunch Europe.